PEDRO MARMOLEJOS, RA & PARTNER

Pedro brings over 20 years of experience at different scales of architecture; from intimate interior interventions, to hi-rise multi family developments. Throughout his career, he has navigated the various needs of a design project, from beginning to end, in order to deliver collaborative solutions that successfully meet the intended project goals.

Pedro resides in New York City.

“As a native New Yorker, I love the diverse environments, and the hidden nuances, of the city I will forever call home. Interacting with different people, from contrasting walks of life, and forming rich connections to distinctive places all over the city, have not only informed my outlook on design, and practice— they have taught me to acknowledge and appreciate the variety life has to offer.”

As a student, at Pratt Institute, the focus was on the concept. As a young professional at various NYC studios, the focus was on the details. Throughout all those experiences, the concept and the details tended to blur, and the focus has shifted to how both go hand in hand, and how each maintains their respective integrity to the other. Our practice reinforces this complementary relationship, in the aesthetic, programmatic, cultural and environmental design solutions of our projects.

"One of the most important things an architect can do early in the process is to actively listen. This engagement sets the foundation for discovery. By actively listening to the stories that shape the clients experiences, it informs the architect on how to best act as client's agent. Actively listening allows for a distinct bond to develop, and improves the flow of the design process that both client and architect create together."

Pedro’s Communities
-New York Road Runners
-Empire Tri Club

JENNIFER PRESTON, LFA, LEED AP-BD+C, & PARTNER

Jennifer’s design process weaves building science, material craft and proportional beauty. Her work is driven by an open-minded rigor, and a respect for nature; the result is lasting sanctuary.

Jennifer calls the Hudson Valley home:

“I love living in a bustling town where I can walk the streets and window shop, stop for a bit and read a book at a sidewalk table while the town wanders by. It is a necessity for me to live in the countryside where I can work in the garden and the quiet that comes from being within the trees and a far from roads. For me, it’s a constant shift between the two that offers balance”

Prior to forming SHELTER, Jennifer was a Senior Associate and Sustainable Design Director at BKSK Architects in New York City. She fostered multiple award-winning projects, garnering BKSK a coveted spot on the Architect 50 top sustainability firms in the country.  Out of her work with BKSK arose a deep commitment to the Integrative Design Process and the development of The Laurentia Project, a series of slow food dinners which bring together creative minds in food, architecture, art, science, writing, and policy; asking that participants simultaneously talk and make toward actionable change in environmental design.

“Empathy and communication is an important part of how I design space. I can best provide what a client needs when I understand spaces that have nourished them briefly or, over long durations of time. The aspects of sanctuary that we each gravitate toward in experience, image or narrative can be recombined into a new and wondrous architectural story.”

Jennifer’s Communities
-The Laurentia Project

SHERYL JORDAN, RA & SENIOR ARCHITECT

Sheryl’s background in drawing, painting and music adds a unique sensibility to her practice of architecture. She has over 17 years of experience with residential, civic, commercial and community projects in New York, Connecticut, Texas, and Massachusetts, many of which have been published and honored with awards. Sheryl received her Masters of Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin and her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Texas Christian University, and also attended Kenyon College. She has studied art, architecture and humanities abroad in Hungary and Italy.

After living in Brooklyn and Manhattan for 12 years, Sheryl and her husband Peter and two daughters have moved to Upper Saddle River in northern New Jersey, where her family has had a presence for 6 generations.

“We’ve recently taken over the care of my family’s historic home, a converted Mill constructed in 1800. The collection of artifacts and objects

and the house itself tell a multi-generational story that we are just starting to sift through and layer on with our own experiences and sensibility.”

Sheryl’s path to practicing architecture started by joining her love of drawing and painting with her knack for spatial logic and problem solving. Prior to becoming an architect, she wielded her Fine Arts degree by spending two years as a designer, painter and fabricator of large-scale stained glass installations at Smith Studios in Texas. There she was introduced to architectural restoration and drafting, and decided to begin exploring architecture. As an architect she carries forward her love of drawing and craft — not as a vehicle of personal expression but as a mode of thinking through and presenting elegant solutions to real-world client needs. Her practice has always been driven by her love of sacred spaces, and she seeks to infuse a sense of sublime ritual and moments of spiritual repose into even the most mundane spaces. 

“Much of my experience has been in renovating historic spaces, so my process begins with identifying the constraints as well as features of the place to celebrate, using those as the framework for exploring potential. Traces and palimpsests are mysteries to be drawn to the surface, and sometimes created anew for the future to discover.”

Sheryl’s Communities
- Upper Saddle River Historical Society

YANCHEN YU, LEED AP-O+M, SENIOR DESIGNER, VISUAL DIRECTOR

Yanchen is a graduate of Columbia University’s MSAAD program. She is dedicated to the ways in which material, light, and form are related to space and the human experience. She values architecture as not just concrete, steel and glass; but a connection between nature and humans.

She and her partner are now settled in Philly while they still cherish a Chinese philosophy that

“Humans are never dominating the earth. We are the same as anything else on the planet, flowers, trees, fish, air, or even a tiny insect. Only when we, as a human, can stay peacefully with both the outside world as well as our inner world, a full balance of life will be achieved.”

Yanchen’s passion and work experiences in art and graphic design have also brought more perspectives to her architecture practices, also to SHELTER’s work.

“It isn't by getting out of the world that we become enlightened, but by getting into the world…by getting so tuned in that we can ride the waves of our existence and never get tossed because we become the waves.”

Yanchen’s Communities
- Rapha Cycling Club